Upland city manager has not received notice of termination

UPLAND - City Manager Robb Quincey has not been given any notice of termination, according to city officials.

Quincey was placed on paid leave of absence by the City Council Tuesday night for unspecified reasons.

"That would have been announced had there been a termination. There is certainly no termination," said City Attorney Bill Curley.

The city's Municipal Code states that the city manager shall not be removed from office within 180 days of an election if a new councilmember is elected.

Gino Filippi was elected to the council on Nov. 2.

"All I'll say about that, that particular code section isn't a matter of application right now," Curley said. "As we said they put on leave part of an evaluation process and that's really all there is to it."

Councilman Ray Musser confirmed there was no notice of termination.

"He's on administrative leave at this point, he's not terminated," Musser said. "He's not actively working, but is being paid, so therefore he's not terminated."

Quincey has been placed on indefinite leave and will continue to receive full pay. He was paid $271,700 in 2009, according to the state controller's website.

City officials would not give the reason for the council's decision to place Quincey on leave.

"We're trying to get to the bottom on everything and we just feel this needs to happen to have time to get things sorted out and get back to having our residents served in the way they should be served," Musser said.

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It is unknown when or if Quincey will return to his position, but the goal is to get the situation cleared up, Musser said.

"It's a goal to resolve and get to the bottom of everything - all the unanswered questions at this point," Musser said. "I'm not sure all answers will be in but when we feel we have all the facts positive or negative then we can make a decision to go forward and that could be any direction at this point."

The Daily Bulletin reported in December that Quincey had negotiated a $25,000 settlement of an Upland police sergeant's lawsuit alleging he was passed over for a promotion because he had investigated a domestic incident with Quincey.

The sergeant was promoted to lieutenant as part of the settlement.

Filippi and Musser said they have not seen a copy of the police report or the settlement.

The report was given to the FBI by the police department as part of the ongoing investigation into Upland Mayor John Pomierski.

In June, FBI and IRS agents confiscated records from City Hall and Mayor John Pomierski's home, where his construction business is based. They also took records from J.H. Builders in Upland and Venture West Capital in Rancho Cucamonga.

Although the documents are part of an investigation, the council is still privy to the information, Curley said.

"I will say the City Council certainly has access to all the documents involving the city affairs, and I don't know what each person may have seen personally, but certainly the council would all have access to it," he said.

Filippi said he has asked Curley to be able to read the report.

"I'm definitely interested in seeing it," he said. "I have many businesses owners and residents (wanting to know) what happened. We shouldn't be unresponsive."

Finance Director Stephen Dunn has taken Quincey's place for the time being. He will continue his role as head of the finance department.

It will be Dunn's second time as interim city manager for the city.

Councilman Brendan Brandt said the city is handling the situation as a personnel matter.

"In the interim the city is going to continue to move forward to operate and the fine employees of the city of Upland will continue to service residents and make sure all essential city services are provided," he said.

At Tuesday night's meeting, the council also discussed its contract with Curley and his law firm. The council held an evaluation performance during the closed session portion of the meeting but took no action.

Officials have expressed concerns over the amount of the city's legal fees.

Filippi said he is satisfied with Curley's performance and the law firm.

"During the campaign I made it very clear that any opportunity to settle lawsuits is to the advantage of both parties, and secondly, if the city of Upland was not involved in so many lawsuits of course the expenses would not be so high," Filippi said.

"So that's the status of and the reality of being in litigation and it's unfortunate and it's not a situation that people want to find themselves in."